


Impostor Syndrome

by Estirose



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Family Drama, Gen, MC is in a F/F relationship and her sister supports it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 06:59:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10985799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Angie wakes up in her perfect sister's body, and things get odder from there.





	Impostor Syndrome

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosabelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosabelle/gifts).



> I couldn't resist tackling the family relationship of a Mary Sue and her very ordinary sister.

There was a moment of darkness before Angie was able to open her eyes. She was in her condo, that was for sure, but she didn't quite feel right. The body didn't feel like hers, or at least something seemed to be missing.

She sat up carefully, lifting an arm that didn't belong to her. Hers had moles, this didn't, and the skin was paler. It was more her sister Marie's arm, but that was impossible. Marie had perfect skin, where hers was more blotchy and prone towards annoying moles.

"Damn," she said, and realized that her voice didn't belong to her either. She was familiar with her pitch, and her sister's, after so many years of comparing herself to Marie.

But what was she doing in her sister's body, if that was what had happened? It should have been impossible, and yet her sister was a brilliant engineer and scientist. Angie wouldn't have put it past her, except there was no reason for Marie to want to switch bodies with her no-name, quiet, boring sister.

Oh, Marie could be a ball of insecurities - a flaw that only Angie knew about. But she'd graduated at the top of all of her classes throughout years of study, while Angie had managed to get her A.S. and work as an accountant. Angie hadn't precisely been a disappointment, she knew, but she hadn't exactly been her sister's twin.

She got up and went to the bathroom, and stared at her body. Yes, it was her sister's flawless form, which still made absolutely no sense. She couldn't be this gorgeous, perfect woman that she saw in the mirror.

Hopefully she still had her phone, because she had no idea what her sister's password - or other security - was.

Angie's phone was merrily sitting on its charger, as if nothing at all had happened. She sighed in relief. Apparently at least one thing was going to go right! Even if it was just being the right phone at the right time.

She tapped the security code and her phone popped up a home screen with its usual soft click. Her sister had modified the software for her, to make it more secure. That was one of the perks of having a genius for a sister, after all.

She dialed her sister's number, hoping that this Freaky Friday thing hadn't left them in each others's bodies permanently. The movie - Angie couldn't remember if it was a book or not - hadn't impressed her too much and she couldn't remember how it resolved itself. Not that it mattered, however, because her sister was brilliant. She could figure out how to reverse this and get them back in their own bodies.

Her own voice answered, which had to be the weirdest thing in the universe.

"Angie? Angie, is that you?" Marie asked. "Are you all right?" Her sister's voice was full of warm concern. It was how Marie always was; though her sister was often convinced she was a fake, she was a genuinely warm soul that would do anything for Angie.

"Yes, it's me. I woke up in your body. Are you in mine?" she asked. "You kinda sound like you're in mine."

"I'm in yours, and I was about to call you. Don't worry, Angie, I'll figure a way out of this." Marie's voice was full of confidence, and Angie sighed in relief. There was no way that Marie would fail, and they'd be back in their bodies soon. "I'd scheduled some time off anyway. I'll do the same for you."

"Thanks. I suppose that we could order food for each other - I know you won't take long to figure out what happened to us." She thought about going out while in Marie's body, and it wasn't happening, because there was no way she could act like Marie. She certainly didn't have her sister's smarts.

Sometimes being in Marie's shadow was irritating, to the extent that she'd changed her last name, but sometimes it worked out.

"Hopefully. I know you have faith in me, but I'm feeling a bit stupid right now." Marie's tone was wry, and Angie couldn't help but sympathize.

"You aren't stupid, sis. Never have been," she reassured Angie.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Marie said, "But sometimes I think that you're the more gifted one."

"Yeah, like I'd be able to undo something like this." She could be bright, but not at Marie's level.

"Okay, I'm a bit more gifted at this." There was a laugh in Marie's voice. "But you'd be able to figure it out too. Some of my brains must have stayed during the transfer, right?"

"Sis, now is not the time to be joking. Could you figure this out? I have to go to work the day after tomorrow." It was perhaps fortunate that this had happened on a Saturday; it gave Marie more time to work it out. And she would, if only barely on time.

"Eh, I got you some vacation," Marie said. "Just in case something doesn't happen."

Angie blinked, wondering how in the heck Angie could have gotten vacation for her on such short notice. But then again, maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, since it was Marie.

"Okay," she said doubtfully. "How did you manage to do that?"

"I have my ways," Marie told her. "So don't worry - just settle down, have my life for a change. I'll give you my shopping passwords and everything, and we can exchange bank cards- we should do that, in fact. Just in case."

"Just in case." That wouldn't happen, Angie was sure. It's not the kind of thing that should happen.

But there was a little niggle of doubt at the back of her mind, as if something in her was saying that something wasn't all right. Which had to be impossible. Everything turned out all right in the end.

"In fact, you know what? We should exchange cell phones and condos. It will be just like the Parent Trap, except without the parents!"

"Um...." It made sense, but she was hesitant. Could she really live her sister's life for her, even for a few days? And wouldn't Marie feel constrained the same way?

"You can do it! We both can. I don't need my body to see this through." Marie's voice was cheerful. "We might both even discover things we didn't realize about ourselves. You might find out that you're brighter than you think."

"Really." Angie shook her head. Couldn't Marie see that she'd never be Marie's equal? Even if she was in Marie's body forever, she couldn't be her sister. Likewise, Marie would never be her, because Marie would never shine in her body.

Or could she?

Not that Angie was anxious to find out. She couldn't imagine living more than a few days in Marie's body, and only tentatively at that. Yes, two days wasn't too bad, but she shuddered to think of how it would be to be in Marie's body and Marie's life more than that.

"I'll be over soon, I promise." Angie heard Marie's smile through the line. "This won't last forever."

Angie could only hope as she hit the end button on her phone.

At least she was dressed. She didn't have to worry about fitting her clothes onto Marie's body. And presumably Marie had the same problem.

She frowned. Had Marie been dressed in yoga pants and a technical tee when all this had happened? She herself had been in jeans and a t-shirt. It felt like something was wrong, and yet she couldn't find anything strange. After all, neither of them had asked for this, as far as she knew.

It was probably too much binge watching of Forensic Files, with perpetrators who tried to be too helpful. That was not happening here. There was no murder, no injury, no disappearance, no suspect. Just two sisters that were mysteriously switched... and since Marie was a genius, they would be just as handily unswitched, even if it was at 5 am on Monday morning, just in the nick of time.

She realized that all she really had to do was hide out in Marie's condo until then. Marie had internet, of course, and they shared a taste in games, especially Survival Horror. She could ideally just spend the weekend as Marie before returning to her own life, when Marie fixed things up. When things went back to normal.

Definitely she was probably being paranoid. She laughed at the mental contradiction and started to pack up her things. Even if she was borrowing her sister's life for the moment, she still wanted her own belongings around her.

And who knew? Maybe she'd discover something new at her sister's house.

She took her bicycle, grateful that she and Marie were close in size so that at least her bicycle helmet would fit on Marie's head. She was chubbier, of course; she didn't have Marie's physique. It was a quick ride over to Marie's house, and it was only a matter of minutes before she was folding her bike and preparing to haul it into Marie's place. She and Marie had identical bikes - custom Bromptons that Marie had bought for both of them. She'd wanted to buy a Dahon, since they were much cheaper, but she was hardly going to turn down Marie's birthday present to her.

"Hi, sis!" The voice still sounded all wrong to Angie's ears, which was nothing compared to seeing her own body walk into the hallway. It was strange to see one's body as if it belonged to someone else, and she wondered if identical twins had the same confusion. Or maybe they didn't. After all, they'd had their own lives to look at their twin.

Nobody could mistake her for Marie, or vice versa. Not unless they were extremely drunk, which had happened once.

She thought how seriously weird it had to be for Marie as well, and was glad that this whole thing would be over soon. Marie was good at fixing things, better than she was.

Marie enveloped her in a huge, fierce hug, the kind of hug Angie wished that she could give. "Don't worry, things will be normal soon. I'm making sure you can live as me - they owe me vacation time anyway, so you now have a few days to breathe. And, as I said, I've got vacation started for you, just a day or two, just so that this can be worked out."

"Thanks, sis." She wouldn't have had the slightest idea on how to fix this, while Marie did. And would. Marie wouldn't want to be stuck as her for very long, after all. And she couldn't live as Marie did.

"I'll work on getting this straightened out right away - you'd better just stick to yourself for the next few days, though I'm sure you can pass off as me if you needed to."

"No, I couldn't!" Angie exclaimed. "Marie, you're a genius. I'm just... me."

"You're so much more than that, sis." Marie grinned, and it still looked so odd. Even if Marie grinned frequently, it wasn't in Angie's body. "I have confidence in you, more than I have in myself. You're the better person of the two of us, and anybody could see that in you." She paused. "Except maybe yourself."

"How? I can't be at your level, I can't. You have to get us switched back!" She held Marie tighter. "I'd never be able to live your life."

"You never know until you try. But that being said, I'll try my best. Look, I'll give you my PIN so that you can use my card to go shopping, and if you need me to do anything else, I will. But I'll be busy working on things, so I don't know much I'll be able to."

Angie felt tears pricking at her eyes. She didn't want to be doing this. She didn't want to be assuming Marie's life, even if it was temporary.

"I think it's best if you don't contact Loren - at least until all this is over. It'll be a wild tale to tell her after this is over. After all, this could only happen to the two of us!"

Not contact Loren? Didn't her girlfriend deserve better than that? Of course, in some ways Marie was correct - this could be very confusing even if you weren't living in your sister's body.

"You're right. But she'll have to know if you can't get things fixed easily. I don't want her to think I've abandoned her."

"Why don't you text her and tell her some family issues have come up? It's sort of the truth, after all. Just not going into details. And if I can't fix things immediately, I think I can pull off being you to keep her from knowing until it's all over."

Marie could do that. Marie could do anything, that's what Angie had always believed. Sure, it was aggravating sometimes to be the perfect girl's fraternal twin sister, but it could have been worse. Marie had never been snooty about it and they'd always loved each other.

"I can do that." She could, after all. Maybe it wouldn't really matter, just would be something to laugh over five years later, the time where Marie and Angie got switched to each other's bodies, and Loren was told later about it.

"Good. Just trust me. Everything will be all right."

Angie was sure it would be. There might be a niggly feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong, but she was sure that was her own anxiety. Marie would probably like to be switched back as much as Angie did. In fact, Marie needed to be back in her own body, her perfect self, not stuck in dumpy old Angie's. Sure, Marie didn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but that was the only thing that Angie had and Marie didn't.

And it wasn't like Marie couldn't find someone really easily. She'd just never seemed to be interested in anything that wasn't a short fling. She'd told Angie more than once that she wished she could settle down with someone, but she'd never had much luck. That was hard to believe, of course. Marie just needed more confidence in herself, that was what Angie truly believed. Angie had just worked hard because she needed to work hard for everything.

Marie had sympathized a lot, but she'd coasted through school to the point of being a little bored. She'd been popular, but she'd confided to Angie that she'd been more than a little lonely. She'd also told Angie that she just wanted to be like Angie, which still made no sense. Why would she want to do that when her life was so, so much better?

It was Marie's insecurity, Angie finally decided. If there had been anything she could do for her sister beyond being a listening ear, she would. In the meantime, she knew that Marie just needed time and some encouragement to make everything right.

The two of them exchanged information and parted ways, Marie promising to keep her updated. Angie merely nodded, confident that everything would be resolved before anything radically bad happened.

At least she could get on Marie's network and keep herself entertained. Marie had promised, no matter what, that she'd get anything Angie needed from her house to her. Not that she should have to worry about that for long, of course. Marie wanted her to be happy, she knew.

"Just relax," Marie had said. Angie found it easy to do just that, with everything on hand. Her sister was hardly poor, and loved her entertainment and her gadgets. Her toys, Angie had joked, before she'd realized how many of them there were.

She surprised herself by realizing she knew what most of them were, no matter how esoteric they might be. She even knew what they were for, though she wondered how exactly she could have known that. Some of Marie must have rubbed off on her, she guessed.

Or maybe she gained some of Marie's genius by being in her body! It made a lot of sense. But then, how was Marie going to fix things if Angie had her smarts?

Angie swore. This was so not good. This was really so not good, and she doubted Marie even realized it. She picked up Marie's phone - they'd traded, after all, because what if someone tried to get in contact with Marie or Angie while they were bodyswapped - and called her sister.

"Hello?" Marie answered.

"It's me." Her sister didn't need her to identify herself. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" Marie asked. It sounded like she was tired, as if she was trying valiantly to figure things out, like she'd spent too much time going around in circles.

"I think that some of your brilliance stayed back in your body. It should be impossible, yet...." She didn't know how to explain. It wasn't like this should be happening, and Marie needed to know.

"What do you mean?" Marie suddenly sounded interested, and Angie could imagine her starting to scribble things down as she thought. "That should be impossible, but that's great! If I need help, I can talk to you."

"Yeah, I just hope that you don't have to." Angie shifted her phone to her other ear out of habit. Marie's hearing was great, hers not so much so, and maybe even if she didn't need to shift the phone from ear to ear it was comforting.

"I'm hoping not either, but you never know. And it makes it feel more equal, doesn't it? You have some of my brains... not that you needed them, really. Both of us kind of needed more confidence."

Angie nodded. She was sure that mostly Marie needed the confidence, because she didn't have it despite having so many gifts. Marie was so sure that someone would find out she was a failure. Impostor syndrome applied to perfect Marie just as it applied to anyone else. "You do your best, and I'll be here if you need me," she promised her sister.

"Will do!" Marie exclaimed. "You just enjoy yourself. I'll keep working."

Maybe she should as well.

She let herself relax over the next day, playing games and watching TV. Marie called her, letting her know that she hadn't fixed things yet, but she'd gotten Angie some time off so that she could figure things out. Or at least Marie could.

And at least it was a vacation, though there was still the nagging feeling, as she prepared meals from Marie's kitchen and watched Marie's Netflix queue, that something was really wrong. Something didn't fit, though she had no clue what that could be.

It wasn't until the phone rang during the day that she got the call that she certainly didn't expect. "Hello?" she asked.

"Marie! How are you?" Loren asked. It was disconcerting to her girlfriend's voice through Marie's ears, and certainly since she was supposed to be Marie and vice versa.

"I'm fine," she replied. Loren rarely called Marie, as far as she knew, so she had to wonder what was going on.

"Great. Look, I wish I was calling to be social, but... is something wrong with Angie?" Loren asked. "I figured that you might know if something's happening that she doesn't want to talk about."

That had to be the understatement of the century. "What's happening?"

"She's not acting like herself. I feel like I'm talking to you instead of her - not that you aren't a lovely person, Marie, but you're not her and she's not you."

That made sense, Angie realized. Of course, why her sister was talking to Loren at all was another question. "I know that she wanted to be by herself for a few days, I didn't think she wanted to talk to anyone much."

"And now you sound like her...." Loren mused. "Look, she's the one who came over to see me. I talked to her, and it's like she doesn't remember certain things that we talked about between ourselves. I'm just worried about her...."

"We should meet," Angie said hastily. "I'll meet you at the Vanilla Crab, okay, near the river. Can you come after work? You finish at 4:30."

"Yes." Loren sounded confused for a moment as to why Marie knew these things, which was surprising as Angie was not Marie.

"I'll explain." She'd explain, since it was obvious that Marie's ruse wasn't working. She had to salvage things and give Marie hints on how to be her since Marie was too perfect to pretend to be Angie for any length of time. "It's quite a story."

"I'll be there." Angie could hear the confused smile in Loren's voice. "Thanks, bye."

Angie let the connection close before scratching her forehead automatically. Then she stopped. This was Marie's nervous habit, not hers, and apparently that had stayed with Marie's body for some reason. Of course, that was easily explained as muscle memory, she realized.

It was still unsettling. She didn't want to be living Marie's life and she certainly didn't want to feel comfortable in Marie's body.

She arrived more or less early to the Vanilla Crab. It was one of her favorite restaurants in the area, which Loren and Marie both knew. It was a seafood restaurant, and had the best dessert as far as she was concerned. She'd just have to do some jogging so that she wouldn't gain too much weight.

Or at least so that Marie's body wouldn't gain too much weight, she thought guiltily. This was not her body to do as she pleased; it was Marie's, and she had to take care of it until she could get it back to its rightful owner. Or get Marie to get back into her normal body. Which she was sure that Marie would want as well. Who would want to be stuck in her body forever, after all?

As she was reflecting on how to keep Marie's body at a steady weight, someone sat down. She looked up, surprised but not surprised to see Loren. After all, she'd set this meeting place, and Loren was very dependable. The fact that Loren had chosen to be with her instead of Marie was amazing.

"Thanks for meeting up with me, Marie." Loren wasn't smiling her usual infectious smile, but instead a wan, confused one.

"It's nothing. There's something I need to tell you, after you order." She'd gotten a nice isolated booth. They could talk freely.

She waved at a waiter who, much to her amusement, hurried over immediately to their table. Must have been something in her expression. "Yes?"

"She'd like to order." Angie nodded over at Loren. "Could you get our waiter, please?"

"Sure thing!" The waiter grinned at the both of them and left, presumably to find whoever had their section.

After Loren ordered, she looked over to Angie. "So, what's happening?"

How did things like this get handled? Angie wasn't sure there was any sort of precedent to getting one's body swapped with one's sister's.

"I... this is going to be completely hard to believe, but..." How did she not sound crazy? "Okay, my sister and I are having a Freaky Friday situation. I really don't know how to explain it than that."

Loren was silent about that. "You must be kidding."

"I'm Angie, though I'm not sure how I could prove it, other than Marie and I still act like ourselves, not like each other." She shook her head. What would she know and Marie wouldn't? "Okay, you remember that conversation we had the last week about that romance novel? You were complaining about the romance in it and I was reminding you that I just wrote Frey/Blossom. And then you reminded me that I wasn't writing them to write Babies Ever After, it's just that Blossom is about twice Frey's age and she just wanted to take care of her because she kept coughing throughout the game. It's something I haven't told Marie about, because she'd want to read that fic."

Marie had always wanted to read Angie's writing, no matter how awful it was. It was nice of her sister, but hardly necessary. And Marie had always said something about it, whether to praise it or to point out flaws in it.

"I always thought it was actually kind of funny that you didn't want her to read your fic." Loren grinned for a moment. "Well, you're either Angie or you're Marie, and I think you're Angie."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Angie said dryly. "But don't worry, even if Marie's in my body, she'll fix this."

"I hope so," Loren said. She glanced over. "Let's go back to- where should we go to?"

"Marie's place, since she has my place for the moment. After we eat dinner, of course."

"You do like your food," Loren noted with a grin.

"Yeah." She liked food almost too much, and it would be better if she could get back into her own body instead of worrying about getting Marie's body fat.

"Then, let's eat." Loren smiled at Angie, and Angie made a note to really apologize to her once this was over.

As they ate their dinners, Angie caught Loren looking at her speculatively. Maybe, she realized, Loren would prefer having her in Marie's body. She couldn't imagine spending her life in her sister's body, to be honest, but what if she could?

And then she mentally slapped herself for thinking about something so unethical. Marie would want her body back, surely! Just as she wanted hers.

It took all her willpower to just finish the meal and let Loren finish hers. "Let's go," she said.

Loren nodded, and the two of them left, agreeing to meet up at Marie's condo. Angie wasn't sure what to say when they got somewhere private, but at least they'd be able to talk.

"I'm gonna call Marie," Angie said, once the two of them got in. "She'll need to know about this."

Loren nodded, and Angie punched up Marie's number. Well, Angie's number, really.

"Hello?" Marie asked.

"Marie, we need to talk." The words were said in a rush, and she could only hope that her sister understood. "About Loren-"

"I'm sorry about that, really," Marie told her. "I just... I don't know what came over me. Maybe I'm becoming you in some ways as you're becoming me."

"Right now she's sitting on your living room sofa since I had to explain things to her and by the way have you had a chance to figure out how to switch us back?"

"I'm not sure I can, anymore," Marie said. "I don't know what happened, but I don't remember some things I should know. You got my smarts, sis. You might have to figure this out yourself."

Angie swore. "Marie...."

"I have confidence in you. And if worst came to worst, I'm okay with you living in my body."

"Marie! I don't want to be in your body like this. We'll figure it out. If we need to, we'll figure it out together, because we are going to get our bodies back!"

"Okay. I'll do my best. In the meantime, I hope that you don't mind doing some research on your own."

"I wouldn't have a clue where to start, Marie, you're going to have to tell me what you do know."

"I'm not sure of anything myself," Marie confessed. "It should be impossible. I don't know of any research that switches peoples' souls...."

"Well, it happened somehow and we're just going to have to work together to get it fixed." There was nothing else she could think of to get the whole thing over with. She didn't want Marie's athletic body and curly hair.

"I'll do my best, but I think you have my brain." There was a sheepish smile in Marie's voice. "I did some preliminary research before we switched. It's in a VeraCrypt vault called fantasyworld.avi - I'll give you my password so that you can access it, just rename the .avi to .hc."

"Okay, what's the password?" Angie asked.

Marie read her the password - she sounded like she had it memorized - and Angie repeated it back. 

"Just let me know if you have any questions - though I think what I wrote will help out a lot to resolve things."

"I hope so," Angie said. "But I still might need you."

Marie laughed. "I don't think you will, but you never know." She closed the connection on her end.

Angie sighed, and went to Marie's computer. She found the file quickly and typed the password into VeraCrypt.

There were several folders, but what caught Angie's attention was a file stating simply, "To Angie.mp4". 

She played it. After a second, after VLC loaded, Angie - well, probably Marie in Angie's body - appeared. She just sat there for a minute and a half, and then began to speak.

"Hi, sis." There was a sheepish grin on her face. "If you're watching this, it means that I've finally told you the password for the volume. Don't panic, okay? I've got some important stuff to tell you."

"This is weird," Angie said, as Loren sat beside her.

"You deserve so much more than you have," Marie told the camera. "So I've made sure that you can finally get what you deserve. I'm the one who switched our bodies, sis. I've been testing it for the last few months on animals and even some humans - don't worry, they don't remember. You won't be able to find the notes, since I took them with me, but that's okay. I wanted you to have my life. The files are all the things you need to know to be me."

Marie looked away, and then looked at the camera again. "I'm going to be leaving as soon as I give you the password. I've been putting together a new identity for myself, and I'll take good care of your body. " She grinned. "We are successors to the throne of love! Peace out." The video stopped.

Angie groaned. "Spare me your cheesy anime."

Loren shook her shoulder. "There's something a bit more important now, Angie."

"Shit, yes." She refocused on what was going on. Her sister was a criminal and had stolen her body, and she had to get over to her place now and stop her. "Your car is faster."

"My car is always faster." They ran out the door, Angie fumbling the keys before managing to lock it, and ran to the elevator. It mercifully arrived quickly and they were soon at Loren's car. Angie hastily put her seatbelt on as they roared towards her complex.

"Remind me to kill Marie after I get my body back." Angie leaned back in the seat. It was terrifying to think that Marie thought she loved Angie so much that she would screw up her life.

"I'll remind you, trust me." Loren shook her head slightly, focusing on going as fast as possible within the legal limits. They didn't need to be stopped on their way to Angie's place. "What the fuck does she think she's doing?"

"Trying to solve all my problems with bodyswapping, it sounds like." Angie shook her head. "Which doesn't solve this problem. I sound like me, not her, and nothing will change that."

"Not to mention, putting you in the body of someone who's committed serious ethics violations, not to mention probably several crimes."

"I... kind of noticed that, thanks." Angie wished they could go faster. Marie suffered from anxiety too, and between Angie's worry and her sister's body's response, she was hoping that she wouldn't start crying. She sniffled instead.

"It'll be okay, honey. We'll get to her before she can get away." Loren accelerated a little. "We'll be at your place in a minute."

Angie could only nod.

They pulled up, and Angie's car was there, but her bike was gone. Maybe Marie wanted to be a little less conspicuous by taking the bike instead of Angie's car.

"Shit," she said. "She's gone. Took my bike."

"Then she's probably still in the area. How fast can she bike?" Loren asked, stopping the car for the moment.

"With my body? I bike at about six miles an hour."

"Ten minutes per mile." Loren seemed to be thinking.

"Which means she can't have gone far, but we're not that far from the Smith River Bike Trail." Angie widened her eyes. "That's exactly where she went, and I left my bike at her place!"

"Damnit." Loren hit the steering wheel with her fist. "How many ways are there to get off that trail? I mean, I've gone biking once or twice with you, but...."

"Too many, but it depends. If she goes all the way down the trail, it's only a few minutes to the train station. But if she goes down near a bus stop, all she'd need is to ride transit with my bus pass and catch the Megabus out of town. Or catch the light rail to get to Greyhound. Yes, I've had to do all of these, don't laugh."

"Trust me, I wasn't laughing. I was figuring out which way to go." Loren shook her head. "Your sister is crazy."

"You're telling me."

"The most important thing right now is to find her." Loren started up again. "Which way do you think she's most likely to go?"

Angie closed her eyes. How was she supposed to know? Marie was smart and she could have done any of them. "Greyhound. Let's get to the station." It was probably the easiest place to duck someone; the Megabus people lined up on public streets, and while the train would be harder to get onto, Marie would be stuck waiting for a train. Amtrak didn't sell tickets beyond a certain point before the train was supposed to come.

"Your wish is my command." Loren gave her a half-grin before starting off. If Angie was right, they'd get there before Marie could. And then she could confront Marie about what she'd done and find out how to reverse things.

At least it wasn't long until they got to the Greyhound station.

"Okay, let's split up," Loren said, taking charge. "I don't know how big this station is-"

"It's not very big, but I think we should hurry." Angie quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. "We need to see if Marie is there."

"Right." Loren slid out of her seat. The two of them got out of the car and hurried inside.

But Marie wasn't inside. Angie shook her head in dismay, catching Loren's eye, and the two of them made their way outside.

Marie was just getting off of her bike. She saw the two of them and froze.

"Marie," Angie said softly, staring at her sister in her body.

"Angie." Marie finally shook her head. "Damnit."

"Look, this is as confusing as hell right now and we should all go and discuss it in my car," Loren told the two of them. "'Cause you meant well, Marie, but I'd like my girlfriend back where she belongs."

"It'll be much better when I'm gone and you can live the life that you deserve. I've never deserved it." Marie shook her head. "Loren, I'm not interested in going back."

"Fuck it, Marie." Loren's tone was probably louder than expected, and heads were turning. "Seriously? There may not be a law against this, but it's a damn bad thing to do to your sister, who loves you."

Angie hoped she was turning doe eyes on her sister. And then she decided on a different tactic.

"Look," she said. "We can't stop you right now. I know that, you know that, Loren knows that. What I can do is find you, no matter what you do. You gave me the tools yourself."

She knew she was bluffing, but hoped Marie didn't realize that. "So, what do you want me to do? I can't reverse it. I destroyed my notes and I can't reconstruct them."

"Let's talk. We'll go to the parkway, discuss this somewhere off the path," Angie told Marie. "The Riverboat Parkway entrance is what I'm thinking of."

"You sure this is a good idea?" Loren asked, looking from one to the other.

"Better than some," Angie replied. "Marie, what do you think?"

"This is a really stupid idea, but I agree on one condition: if you don't like my answers, you have to let me go." Marie crossed her arms. Angie wished it didn't look so natural on her.

"Agreed," Angie said before Loren could object. "I want you to hear me out."

It was the only thing she could think of, to make Marie understand how she felt about what Marie had done to her... to them, actually.

"It won't change anything," Marie said with confidence. "But I'll meet you there and we'll talk."

With that, she got back on her bicycle. Angie and Loren watched her go off, and then Loren turned towards Angie. "This is not a good idea."

"I know, but I don't know how to fix this and I'm not about to discuss the whole thing within earshot of a couple dozen people waiting for a bus." She sighed and turned back to the car.

"That I agree with." Loren caught up with her. "Let's go."

It was not as quick to get to their meeting place, but Loren and Angie finally made it to where Marie was standing with her bicycle. "There's a picnic area down a quarter mile," she said.

"I know," Angie replied. "I've been there." With Marie, she didn't need to add. "Let's go."

As soon as the three of them were settled in at a picnic table, Marie's bicycle propped nearby, Angie folded her hands and looked at Marie.

"The message should have been enough," Marie said. "I just want what's best for both of us. I feel like such an impostor in my own life, and you so much deserve to have a life where you're celebrated and loved."

"If you haven't noticed, Marie, you've done experiments on people," Loren said, clearly less patient with Marie than Angie was. "I'm sure that part, at least, is illegal. And if someone remembers, what will happen to Angie! You want her to die in jail for something you did?"

"They don't remember! I made sure they wouldn't remember, for Angie's sake...." Marie looked away. "I know that it seems wrong, but I wanted to make things so much better for Angie. I know that I've gotten all the breaks and she hasn't. I wanted to make that right, even if I had to break the law to do it. I first thought about simply switching identities, but we're far from identical twins. Nobody would believe Angie was me and vice versa."

"Even like this, we wouldn't be mistaken for each other. If Loren could detect that something was wrong-" 

Marie interrupted her. "Loren is your girlfriend. I made a mistake because I was setting things up so that 'you' would disappear. Nobody else would realize that you're not me because you're the one that acted in all the school plays. You could be me believably."

"No I can't! I can't be you." Angie knew in her heart that her words were useless, that her sibling just wouldn't accept that Angie couldn't pull off being Marie.

"You haven't even tried!" Marie raised her hands up in frustration. "You could do it if you tried, and you haven't tried!"

"I don't want to try!" Angie shook her head wildly. 

"You don't have a choice! I can't switch us back, I told you I destroyed all my notes." Marie reached forward and put a hand on her arm. "You can do this, sis."

"Except you didn't destroy all your notes." Angie wasn't sure where the information came from, but she suddenly knew that Marie had left a copy behind somewhere. Probably just in case. "I know you, Marie. You wouldn't destroy them. You had to make sure if something went wrong that you could reverse it."

"You don't know that for sure-" Marie started.

"I know you, Marie, and you also gave me part of yourself. That part of yourself is telling me that this can be reversed. I just don't know how to do it." She took Marie's hand. "But we could work together."

"I refuse." Marie's voice was soft. "I've done what I need to do. I need to leave so that you can enjoy this. I know I'm not the perfect person everybody thinks I am. You're the perfect person and I've always known that."

"Marie, I've screwed up so badly sometimes that I wonder why I was put on this earth, except as an example to others. You're the perfect person. I've nearly always loved that about you. People love you because you're kind, you're generous, you're always together. You have such a knack for doing everything perfectly and solving every single problem. It's just that you can't see it because you have impostor syndrome, just like I do."

Unlike her sister, she'd always screwed up one thing or another, it was just that she was able to hide it. Marie, on the other hand, didn't make mistakes, or made really minor ones that made her seem approachable, not incompetent. 

"That's not true," Marie said, though she sounded more hesitant.

"You're just as competent, kind, generous, and together as you think you are. The problem is that you think you aren't. I'm the same way. I can't believe I can do as well as I can. I expect my supervisor to walk in and find out that I've screwed something over. I've made major mistakes and fixed them before anybody noticed, at least for the moment. I'm always afraid that someone will find out what I've done and that's the end of me."

"You have made a hell of a lot of mistakes lately," Loren said. "Like experimenting on people and pissing me off by switching my girlfriend into your body without asking her. But Angie's right - before this week, you were the best potential sister-in-law I could have ever asked for. You never were bothered by the fact your sister might marry another woman, and you welcomed me into your life with open arms. If I hadn't met Angie first and you weren't straight as hell, I'd have dated you. Damn it, just the fact that you were willing to do this for her, as stupid as the whole idea is, tells me that before you went completely batshit insane coming up with this plan that you loved Angie."

"You're just both talking about the image I project, not the real me." Marie was shaking her head.

"I know you Marie," Angie said, leaning in. "I grew up with you. We had our fights! We shirked our homework! There's a reason I changed my last name and it wasn't because I liked great-great grandma's maiden name! I didn't want to be Angie Miller, but I didn't want to be Marie Ayala's big sister anymore. I don't want to spend my life as you because I want you to be you. I want to spend time playing video games and biking and eating too much double chocolate chip ice cream with sprinkles with you. I want to know that you're there to catch me if you fall. I want to be there to catch you if you fall, because you're my sister. But I can't do it like this! I can't do it if I'm worried about failing to be you. I can't act as well as you think I do."

"But-" Was Marie crying?

"Marie." She reached out and gave her sister a hug. "Please."

"I screwed up. I'm not perfect. You finally see me as I truly am." Marie was reaching in Angie's purse for tissues.

"Then take responsibility for your mistake and help me get us back in our rightful bodies." Angie pulled her own tissue pack out and handed it to Marie. "I want to be happy again. I want my little sister back again."

"Okay," Marie said tentatively. "I'll help you."

"That's it?" Loren asked, looking from one to the other. "You talk to her, and everything's resolved?"

"No." Angie shook her head. She saw Marie shaking hers too.

"It took a lot of work to switch us," Marie said. "I don't remember everything - I lost it when we changed bodies. We're still going to have to pretend to be each other, at least for a while." She drew up, eyes red. "It won't be forever. You're right - I have to take responsibility for this. I'll go to the police once I'm sure we're switched. I'm sure I can get charged with something. At last, I don't have to pretend I'm perfect."

Loren facepalmed, and Angie sighed. "You have always been near perfect, Marie. We'll get this resolved, you and I. Together."

Marie started crying, and Angie took her in a long, tight embrace. Ever since she'd woken up in her sister's body she finally, finally felt like everything was going to be fixed and she'd be home in her body once more.


End file.
